“Acapulco has collapsed”: When Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador passes by and is forced to continue his journey on foot through the mud to the legendary seaside resort devastated by Hurricane Otis, residents tell him of their desperation.
• Also read: Hurricane Otis weakens after making landfall near Acapulco, Mexico
• Also read: Acapulco was isolated after Hurricane Otis
The head of state attempted to travel by road to Acapulco, about 250 miles (400 km) from Mexico City, on Wednesday afternoon to assess the damage from the hurricane that cut off this city of about 780,000 people from the rest of the country. The extent of the damage remains unclear due to a lack of notification.
But water, fallen stones and uprooted trees hindered his convoy. He tried to continue in a military jeep, but the mud stopped him and he completed his journey to Acapulco on foot.
Along the way, the president was able to speak with residents who had gone looking for relatives, while all means of transportation and communication were cut off in Acapulco.
“We will try to open (the roads) as quickly as possible,” Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reporters, accompanied in Acapulco by the ministers of defense, navy, public security and civil protection.
The Category 5 hurricane made landfall shortly after midnight local time (6 a.m. GMT) on Wednesday with wind gusts of up to 315 km/h, according to the Mexican government, and then weakened as expected as it moved inland. It had formed very quickly within a few hours off the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Statements from residents show how badly they were affected.
“We felt it very strongly,” Israel Perez, a 21-year-old baker, told AFP, speaking of the “noise of monsters unleashed.”
“We were in shock because we could not leave the house, many people sought shelter because of the severe flooding in the rivers,” he added.
“Collapsed”
Eric Hernandez, 24, goes back to his neighboring village after accompanying a relative to a clinic in Acapulco just as the hurricane hit.
“We could see how it (the hurricane) carried away the cars,” he told AFP, his feet in the mud. “The floor of the clinic was moving,” he continues, “we had to close the doors with what we found.”
When he returned to his village, he saw homes being ransacked and people struggling to regain their belongings. “Acapulco has collapsed,” he said.
“We will try to open the streets as quickly as possible,” the president told reporters in Acapulco. He was accompanied by the ministers of defense, navy, public security and civil protection.
On Wednesday, Mr. López Obrador announced during his morning press conference that he did not yet have details about the number of victims of the hurricane and possible casualties because communications with Acapulco remained disrupted. “We don’t have any information yet,” he said.
“We will bring equipment,” he said. “The army is bringing machinery, communications and transport equipment and we will try to reopen the highway (between Mexico City and Acapulco, editor’s note) as soon as possible.”